Well this week has been absolutely un real!! So let me begin...
Well I am just going to begin with telling you day by day what has
happened!!
So last Saturday (not this past Saturday, like last last Saturday) I had a
dream... I literally had a dream where sis Keeler and I were teaching this
family that I didn't know; we were in a teaching situation and it was a family
of 4, all that stood out to me really was that the man said, " I have never read
the Book of Mormon before." So I woke up with a strong desire to figure out how
we are going to find real growth, because really for our efforts we have talked
to over 200 ppl and had found no one. Looking back at that day was quite
interesting because when I woke up Sunday it was crystal clear to me what we
needed to do - Instantly that morning I looked at sister K and was like we need
to work with the ward, we need to go through the ward list and determine LA's
and ppl we don't know and find people through them... I just had a fire and
drive and it was just like a knowledge I knew that it was through the ward that
we will see growth in this area. So we went to the church, before church and
printed off a brand new ward list as our other one was few months old. I just
went through marking ticks on it of LA's and so forth, so after church that day
we had already set up two appointments with two different ward leaders to come
sit down with them and figure out whose who and get the members involved. We
got the elders involved that night; at 8 PM we all were at Pres Kidd's house and
went through the first page of the ward list. We made plans and goals for ppl,
sisters and elders who to go contact. So now fast forward a day and this brings
us to Monday of this past week... so at 8PM a lesson fell through, our back up
was to go contact "Lillian Curnock". We go and contact her and it turns out she
is a 14 yr old who was baptised at 8 but her parents weren't, they were living
common law. So we knock on their door and end up picking up the whole fam jam,
they are a great family and very open!!. Olivia is 11 Lillian is 14 and the
parents!! So we have our second appointment set up for Sunday (yesterday). So
BOOM just like that it was pretty great to see immediate results from that
prompting we recieved and acted on that previous day. So now I am going to fast
forward to yesterday at 8PM and I am going to tell you about our second lesson
with them last night. So we show up the whole family comes and sits down, we
begin teaching but it is pretty dry... the daughters are silent and just wasn't
going really anywhere... we get to know Mike the father, he is a retired
military went over seas and has seen some pretty horrible things. He is pretty
agnostic to whether or not there is a God but it is very clear he is dealing
with alot of pain. Lynn the mother is quite open, knows church is true has
couple concerns, nothing huge that can't be resolved through some diligent
prayer and scripture study. So Sis K and I were teaching the first lesson,
restoration, not going anywhere. Sis K felted prompted to begin asking Mike more
questions the spirit was present as she changed that approach in the teaching,
and then I asked Mike about the Book of Mormon then ... he said "I have never
read the Book of Mormon before" and in that moment as crazy as it sounds my
heart just stopped and words can't really describe but in my heart and mind it
suddenly just clicked that this was the exact situation I had dreamed about a
week ago. It was so surreal but instantly Sis K and I both were on the same page
with the direction we took the lesson all towards Mikes needs and testifying
strongly and boldly of Christ and how you can know that yes Christ does in fact
live. It was amazing. After the lesson I asked Sister Keeler how she felt and
she expressed the same feelings the lesson was going no where and then all the
sudden she felt so strongly to just focus on Mike and ask questions, and that
she still feels very strongly we are there for Mike. I too agreed and explained
the experience for me with the dream... I said "sister K do you remember the
dream when Mike said he had never read the Book of Mormon it was so crystal
clear to me that that dream was exactly like that moment." I know this probably
sounds crazy... I hadn't written this down in my journal yet because we have no
time and I wasn't going to share this but I want it documented haha and I know
it was true and happened. It is the exact same feeling and remembrance I have
with the dream I had with grandpa just crystal clear and something I won't
forget. It was so interesting being in the lesson and in that moment then tying
the pieces together and realizing that yes the other 3 ppl were Lynn and her
daughter and that Mike was the man that we were teaching, the teaching situation
was the exact same. It is crazy but its true and I don't know why were are
teaching Mike but i know we are teaching him because God wants us to be teaching
him for a reason and that as we continue to teach this family we will find out.
We committed them as a family to read the Book of Mormon daily and to attend
church. I hope this makes sense it was a very spiritual experience in the lesson
and connecting the dots to realize this all in the moment of the lesson and
afterwards talking about it with Sister K.
Wowee it has been great week we picked up 6 new investigators and we had an
amazing visit in New Glasgow with the New Glasgow "East" sisters. This transfer
president took the elders out of that area and put sisters so now there are 4
sisters in New Glasgow!! Sister Burton is now in Charlottetown PEI with sister
Thompson, so we have 3 new sisters in NG pretty well white washed the whole
area. We had an amazing meeting with bishop yesterday as well and we are
completely 100% on par with the elders in the Cole Harbour ward it has been a
long way coming but now we are unified and working hand in hand with one another
and strengthening the ward and making changes!! So yesterday our dinner apt fell
through and we were like no way lets knock instead of eat!! So we went knocking
and boom in that hour of sacrificing dinner, we find a new investigator, we
found (new investigator) who is 23... She has been thinking about just walking
into a church because she is caring alot of burdens of guilt and shame from her
past, she is confused and believes there is a god but has alot of questions. We
taught her right then and there, we had a very powerful lesson of reading in the
Bible and Book of Mormon, it was amazing. We talked about baptism and we showed
her the Because Of Him easter video and she cried, we prayed with one another
and committed her to be baptised June 28th! she said YES!! We left her with a
Book of Mormon and left her with some great chapters to read about repentance
atonement and faith Alma 36, Alma 7 and Alma 32!! God has people for us to
teach!!
We had an interesting lesson where we picked up two new investigators
Debbie and Char they had a baptist friend who was continually anti and being
very disrespectful, it was nice to "turn the other cheek" and be Christlike, but
boldly plainly share what is true. We still picked them Debbie and Char up as
new investigators and will be teaching them this Sunday... Debbie actually
called us the next day and apologized for her friends ridiculous behaviour.
ALSO we were biking through a parking lot and I was on my bike and I saw a
big black guy smoking a cigarette against a car with his hood up. Sis K was
already talking to a family and I saw him and biked past because I totally
judged him, then I stopped whipped around and was like "what am i doing?!" in my
mind... and I came back up to him and we had a GREAT conversation. He noticed
how I biked a circle around him and came back he asked why hahaha I was just
like "well Miko I had to pray about it and see if God needed me to talk to you
and guess what I do!" haha in a joking way he laughed, we built a great
relationship... and then Adele his common law gf walked out of sobeys and came
in the car and he was like "yo sweety do you want to be mormon she is asking us
to be Mormon" well it turns our Adele is actually President and Sister
leavitt's hairstylist!! BOOYAH! So we had a great old conversation and Adele is
actually like Erica... we got along great, we bonded on hair and the gospel!!
She loved us! She asked Q's about tithing, WOW marriage and I just boldly
plainly told her the truth like yes we pay 10% and yes you would have to be
married because that is the way God has asked us to and she just took it and we
taught her the next day... she is great and I have faith she and her family will
be baptised she has two little kids!!
We saw miracles all through the Lords plan. This is His work and no
unhallowed hand will stop the work from progressing, faith precedes all
miracles. I love talking to people, being warm, genuine and friendly is the key
to missionary work, if it weren't for that I know we wouldn't be teaching half
of these elect great prepared people we have began teaching this week. I love
this gospel I love telling everyone I meet that "god loves you and that your a
son or a daughter of god!" Every person I meet no matter how rude they are I
will look them in the eye and say "well I know that God loves you and that your
are a son of god" like what can anyone say to that?! and I know they knew this
in the pre existence and that these words are familiar to them! :)
In stake conference the stake president announced how he has a vision of two
stakes in NS and how all the wards need to have 250 active attendance and all
the branches to have 150 active attendance. That is a huge stretch and I have
faith miracles will be happening here on this Eastern Land!!
We had a great meeting with Bishop and his counsellor yesterday. It is
amazing to see the changes in this ward from Jan till now it is unreal! The
bishop asked us to help him with their vision. We as missionaries were just
testifying and sharing ideas, the spirit was very powerful we are on the same
page with one another and at the end of the meeting his counsellor teared up and
said "I feel a big sense of repentance... I use to know and have this knowledge
and desire of this work like you do (speaking to us) and I know i must change.
It was amazing to me to see how humble that was of the Bishop and his counsellor
but as well how easy it is to forget the things we see on our mission and the
fire we have because life is busy and time is very little. They both came to
see that it is all about simply sacrificing our time for the Lord and building
His kingdom up.
It is a great day to be a missionary. I love this work. I am currently
reading in Jacob and WOW he is right up my alley with how to be a bold
missionary!! Jacob is such an example of understanding his duty and purpose, I
know this is the Lords work. I know these are the last days, we are the Lords
hands, lets put ourselves to work D&C 34:4-8 - D&C 33:2-4
I love you all !!
xoxo
Sister Pizzey
I hope my letter made sense!
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